Image copyrightAFP/GettyImage caption
Police said the weapon was not loaded and no ammunition was missing

Jersey police have launched an urgent appeal to find a handgun that went missing from an unlocked car on Friday.

The 9mm Glock disappeared from a silver Mitsubishi car somewhere between the Newton & Newton gun store and Roberts Garage in St Helier.

Police said the weapon was not loaded and no ammunition was missing.

The gun was collected from the gun shop at 13:00 BST and was then driven, via the Monterey Hotel, to Roberts Garage at Springfield.

Ch Insp Allan Williamson called on the person who took it to return the gun, saying officers would "be sympathetic to the circumstances".

He said: "The priority is getting that gun back into lawful possession."

Keeping it in an unlocked vehicle is foolhardy at the leastCh Insp Allan Williamson, States of Jersey Police

Mr Williamson said he was hopeful it had "just gone missing and was an oversight".

He said: "The owner has legal ownership, it is certificated, the pistol is on a firearms licence and the gun had been in repair at a legitimate gun shop.

"We haven't discounted the fact it may have been subject to a crime, but at this stage we do believe it went missing, it was lost."

He said police would have to consider the issue of someone keeping the gun in an unlocked vehicle, but the priority was to see it returned.

He said: "As a firearm certificate holder, owning a firearm is not an automatic right, it is a privilege and there are responsibilities on the holder, and one of those is keeping it secure. Keeping it in an unlocked vehicle is foolhardy at the least."